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keul

Posted 17 March 2007 - 08:40 AM

prathapml: is your oemlogo displayed when you use the autounattend file submitted in your 1st post ?
Mine doesn't as windows stores the path in a REG_SZ key instead of a REG_EXPAND_SZ

mc: I use a modded version of prathapml's autounattend file, set network as "home" and never get network page on 1st startup. And now that I use sysprep with a second xml file with network set a "home", I don't get it either... Tell me if you need more information.

sp00f

Posted 17 March 2007 - 12:38 PM

MAVERICKS CHOICE

Posted 17 March 2007 - 01:56 PM

MAVERICKS CHOICE

The Guy from Aus

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1,784 posts

Joined 14-November 03

OS:Windows 7 x64

Country:

mc: I use a modded version of prathapml's autounattend file, set network as "home" and never get network page on 1st startup. And now that I use sysprep with a second xml file with network set a "home", I don't get it either... Tell me if you need more information.
[/quote]

Taken on board, will incorporate.

EDIT: I also found a sharp reboot after install at first use gets rid of that page & doesn't pop up again, quick & dirty I know...

prathapml

Posted 27 July 2007 - 07:09 AM

Came across this bit of info recently - I'm assuming it will be available in Vista SP1 as well, and if so, it finally solves the driver problem in a simple manner.

Windows Server Longhorn Automatic Driver Injection

During WinPE the system looks for the directory named $WinPEDriver$ at the root of all visible drives given a drive letter of C or greater. If this directory exists, the module then adds this path to the list of paths that it maintains to search for driver packages. When this operation is complete, the module continues to scan the answer file, if present, for additional driver paths.

Because of this operation, drives that contain a $WinPEDriver$ directory in the root cause Setup to recursively search this directory for driver packages to be imported into the image during the WinPE phase. This includes hard drive partitions and removable media like floppy disk drives and flash drives. Type-27 hidden partitions are assigned a driver letter during the WinPE phase of Setup and are also searched.

Stead

Posted 18 September 2007 - 05:25 AM

Stead

Member

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184 posts

Joined 04-January 05

Hi, i've been searching around and I can't find what i'm looking for, is there documentation explaining this xml file completly with all available components listed and options, or has anyone made a program to help automate it?

I'd be interested in writing a simple app to toggle things on and off if there isn't already one, I know we have vlite but i'd like to be able to keep the source clean and just use an answer file

prathapml

Posted 20 September 2007 - 03:06 PM

prathapml

Follow the rules please :-)

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6,791 posts

Joined 14-November 03

OS:Windows 8 x64

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Yes indeed, resources for this with detailed help do exist, which is actually what I used.

WAIK - a set of packages around 900 MB in size, free download from oem.microsoft.com
WSIM - a graphical tool to help renerating an xml (unfortunately, an xml that passes validation by wsim will not always work as expected during setup, which is why I felt the need to post a known-to-be-working file on the forum).
documentation - yes there are some CHM files contained in the WAIK and are a very useful reference, might total up to hardly 5 MB.

Stead

Posted 22 September 2007 - 06:19 PM

Stead

Member

Member

184 posts

Joined 04-January 05

thanks!, i'll have to start downloading and reading.. one last thing, isthe WSIM a ms tool or a user made one? ... I'm half guessing its included in the waik?, very tired, about togoto bed but just thought i'd check this quickly whilst i can, shall be looking into it as soon as i get some free time, i like the download speed from microsoft servers, seem to forget i have a 8mb connection with most sites seemingly limited!

prathapml

Posted 13 October 2007 - 01:58 AM

Still waiting upon the direct drop-in folder of "Updates" to automatically install updates post-SP1.And the other drop-in folder mentioned earlier (quoted below):

Came across this bit of info recently - I'm assuming it will be available in Vista SP1 as well, and if so, it finally solves the driver problem in a simple manner.

Windows Server Longhorn Automatic Driver Injection

During WinPE the system looks for the directory named $WinPEDriver$ at the root of all visible drives given a drive letter of C or greater. If this directory exists, the module then adds this path to the list of paths that it maintains to search for driver packages. When this operation is complete, the module continues to scan the answer file, if present, for additional driver paths.

Because of this operation, drives that contain a $WinPEDriver$ directory in the root cause Setup to recursively search this directory for driver packages to be imported into the image during the WinPE phase. This includes hard drive partitions and removable media like floppy disk drives and flash drives. Type-27 hidden partitions are assigned a driver letter during the WinPE phase of Setup and are also searched.

OK here comes the question:How do i copy the install-dir into the system-drive and how could i add the variable systemdrive - or does it work after i copied the directory to the sysdir?You know .. i dont have alot of time to spend on my own Vista-DVD, thats why i dont want to get ride of WAIK, id rather use some own batchfiles to add updates and registrytweaks after installation, i think its the best solution because the implementation of updates and software dont works at all (many users reported problems on waik).

i hope someone could tell me how to copy a directory from the dvd, including sub-dirs and all files and tell me if it works with the batchfile-run-line in the unattented.xml lines ive posted in the code-tag up of my post.

And yes .. err .. what does the order-line means? why it counts 20?

i would be very happy if someone which knows what im asking for would help me.

thanks alot allready, a very interesting community, im sorry for myself that i cant spend alot of time into this, im very busy.

Fire

Posted 05 February 2009 - 09:52 AM

Fire

Member

1 posts

Joined 05-February 09

I've been searching but have not found the answer yet. In XP there were limitations within the different answer files as to the length the string could be, i.e. DriverPaths was limited to 2048 or 4096 depending upon the answer file.

Are there any such limitations on any of the Vista answerfiles path type strings? My boss wants to put as many of the drivers and other files apps that we can on the network to install unattendedly instead of putting them in the image but the UNC path to the folder containing everything is already 40 characters long and I don't think there is a way for me to remapped it to a drive letter that will be there whenever it is needed without creating even bigger headaches.

atolica

Posted 15 February 2009 - 11:10 AM

atolica

ENT Surgeon

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218 posts

Joined 15-December 05

OS:Windows 7 x86

Country:

Hi

to add drivers to the winPE pass you have to use :

<Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsWinPE> In the Windows PE Pass

The Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsWinPE component is used to add oneor more out-of-box drivers to a Windows installation. Drivers that are located in thepath specified by DriverPaths are copied to the driver store of the Windows installationduring the windowsPE configuration pass.You can add boot-critical as well as non-boot-critical drivers with this component to aWindows image before it is installed.

To add them during the Offline servicing pass Use :

<Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsNonWinPE>

Those 2 ways Allows you to add Critical drivers NEEDED by the system. (Mass Strorage or network if use use net shares during installation.)

The Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsNonWinPE component is used to add one or moreout-of-box drivers to a Windows installation. Drivers that are located in the path specified byDriverPaths are copied to the driver store of the Windows installation during the auditSystemconfiguration pass. When the system runs Plug and Play, these out-of-box drivers are availableto install hardware on the system.

Tha means To install Vista on a RAID Array, you have to use WinPE to add drivers.if you want to add video drivers, you can just use the audit pass.

If I try to add drivers during auditSystem I get an error, and everything hangs. I am modifying the answer file to see if I can't install the drvers during offlineServicing.

prathapml

Posted 17 February 2009 - 12:49 AM

prathapml

Follow the rules please :-)

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Joined 14-November 03

OS:Windows 8 x64

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@atolica
Thanks. I've just been putting off clearing my personal messages - shall take some time out to sort, archive and download them all.
In the meantime, if you have any queries for me, just post in any of the threads to which I am subscribed.